Shadows in Paradise

In Helsinki, Nikander, who drives a rubbish truck, meets Ilona, a supermarket cashier. What develops between them is not romance in the usual sense; it is two people standing in the same silence. Aki Kaurismäki wrote and directed. His brother Mika produced, Timo Salminen shot it and Villealfa Filmproductions made it. Matti Pellonpää plays Nikander and Kati Outinen plays Ilona. It runs 74 minutes and opened on 17 October 1986. It is the first film of Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy, followed by Ariel in 1988 and The Match Factory Girl in 1990. The trilogy later went into international distribution through the Criterion Collection and other publishers. It was named Best Film at the 1987 Jussi Awards, Finland's principal film honour. Kaurismäki's manner is already fixed here: the actors show nothing, the frame stays still, the lines are short, and the comedy comes out of exactly that blankness. Who it is for: viewers who like sparse, deadpan comedy and Nordic cinema. Who it is not for: anyone wanting an emotional love story. The characters barely say they love each other at all.